London Calling
0 Comments Published by Tom Gara on Thursday, October 20 at Thursday, October 20, 2005.
Well, the last few days in London have been great, a much better experience of London than previous times. Its not that I had negative experiences here in the past, just indifferent ones. I think I appreciated the place more after being away from "my" people for a couple of years.
Being submersed in weirdness and foreign ways is one of my favourite things, but it really is nice to be in a country where you feel among your own, at least for a few days every couple of years. I'd kind of forgotten that English is actually spoken as a native language in some places - having become so used to travelling and living in non-English countries, I had stopped even trying to read random street posters, or listen to announcements in railway stations, or eavesdrop on interesting conversations between groups at nearby tables in cafes.
Beyond language, its just a certain way of life, a way of being, that you just immediately understand and feel a part of, probably among any country in the English speaking world, but particularly the Commonwealth.
Even getting to eat some good Chinese food for once made me feel strangely at home.
Anyhow, its back to Rotterdam tonight, and hopefully the deflation of returning to a decidedly smaller and more average city than London will be offset by a weekend in Amsterdam, which kicks 6 different flavours of arse. I'm going to miss the tube though - I certainly know the underground of London better than the above ground.
Being submersed in weirdness and foreign ways is one of my favourite things, but it really is nice to be in a country where you feel among your own, at least for a few days every couple of years. I'd kind of forgotten that English is actually spoken as a native language in some places - having become so used to travelling and living in non-English countries, I had stopped even trying to read random street posters, or listen to announcements in railway stations, or eavesdrop on interesting conversations between groups at nearby tables in cafes.
Beyond language, its just a certain way of life, a way of being, that you just immediately understand and feel a part of, probably among any country in the English speaking world, but particularly the Commonwealth.
Even getting to eat some good Chinese food for once made me feel strangely at home.
Anyhow, its back to Rotterdam tonight, and hopefully the deflation of returning to a decidedly smaller and more average city than London will be offset by a weekend in Amsterdam, which kicks 6 different flavours of arse. I'm going to miss the tube though - I certainly know the underground of London better than the above ground.
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